Assignment #2

My community was the Driver Improvement class I participated in on Saturday.

Free Writing:

The teacher seems to be one of those people that likes to pick on people for making mistakes - not going to be very fun. I was late - as usual - but I mucked stalls all morning. I started at 5:30 a.m. The guy sitting next to me got a speeding ticket too, so did my entire row. The next person that tried to get into the class late was thrown out - me and another Chinese girl that came in at the same time were lucky. After that, one more person came in, but she was given a sheet with the wrong time on it, so he let her stay. She's an APSC major like me. I brought a hamburger for lunch, but not sure if it was enough to eat...About 95% of all car crashes in the state of VA are related to speeding. Reckless driving can get you jail time, but the teacher says that he can give anyone a reckless driving ticket for anything, not just speeding. The Chinese guy at the end of my row keeps falling asleep, and the instructor is getting mad. Another guy behind me likes to argue - he seems to enjoy hearing the sound of his own voice. There's a frat boy in the back who's convinced that all cops are out to get him. The instructor is a cop, but he seems to be better than I initially thought - he's not into writing tickets left and right, and he gives most people the benefit of the doubt. This isn't going to be the worst day of my life after all - I just might live through it :P...

Narrative:

So I showed up about 15 minutes late for class, because I had to finish mucking my stalls in the morning, 5:30 a.m. to be exact. The teacher asked me why I was late, almost sounding like if he didn't like my answer, I wouldn't be getting in to the class. I told him it was because my dog ate something that he shouldn't have eaten, and the instructor let it slide. I was already beginning to get hungry too, and lunch wasn't for another 3 hours. The time actually seemed to fly by, and after discussing several specific instances, and the traffic laws behind them, I believed in some of the laws that I - as do most of us - tend to break on a constant basis. The most important things that the course emphasized were reckless and agressive driving. Most people don't believe that they are driving aggressively, and there was an instance discussed in one video where some one who was driving aggressively was encountered about his driving, and he shot and killed someone with a cross-bow. Though this was an unreal situation, most of us, as drivers, either are faced with or contribute to the growing number of aggressive driving incidents.

The teacher turned out to be a cop, and he said that he was really picky about aggressive drivers, reckless drivers, and children not in child seats. He was actually one of the more lenient officers, as we found out. About 75% of the people in the room were there for speeding, the other 25% either for running a red light, stop sign, or passing a bus with lights flashing. My row was two speeding and one reckless driving, and me, another speeding ticket (69 in a 55 mph zone). He asked us to introduce ourselves, and I quickly found that I wasn't the only one to get a speeding ticket on 460 - nor was I the only one that was bitter about the change to 65 mph. The instructor just laughed and said "Too bad." We had an hour lunch, and I came home and let my dog out, then drove back, and surprise, surprise; I was 10 minutes late...

The next 4 hours were comprised of movies, basically, older than we were. One of them showed a young superman, a walking, talking Christopher Reeve. That's just old...But we all sat through them - the instructor left the room, presumably to do something more interesting, but we were left to listen to tales of 'road rage' woes and hear the shreak of twisted metal as cars plowed into each other at high speeds. We were even taught how to get our cars back onto the road, if they were to accidentally slip off the side. I got a 24/25 on the test, a passing grade, and so I got my certificate and hauled butt out of the room and over to my car. However, even in my haste to get back home, where something more interesting waited for me, I was still cautious. All it takes is one mistake, one little 'oops', and someone could die.

The course really did leave an impression on me, because I don't think twice about speeding when I have somewhere to be, or tailgating, when traffic is backed up. But all it takes is that one time, that split second, that could mean the difference between creaming someone's car and stopping just in time. It could mean the difference between life and death - between someone getting up and walking away, and someone in a body bag. The real question is: Are YOU an aggressive driver? Is it really worth it?

Questions:

1) How many people are going to take what they learned and actually apply it to their driving?

2) How many people will be in a Driver Improvement course again? Why?

3) Do the instructors actually live and drive by the rules they teach us?

4) Why isn't this class required before you get a lisense?

5) Why are a majority of the participants college undergraduates/grad students? Are we worse drivers?

Well, that was that - hope you enjoy my little blurb about Driver Improvement...See you all tomorrow (well, actually, it's today!)!

~ Katie